Gender equality impact in local communities

Project "Gender equality impact in local communities"

LORI has implemented of the project "Gender equality impact in local communities" with the support of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development. The project was carried out by five NGOs from five different Croatian counties which are covering far geographical points of Croatia and are concerned with different social aspects: NGO LORI – LGBT rights and empowerment of the LGBT community (Primorje-Gorski Kotar County), NGO Zora – human rights and gender equality (Međimurje County), K-zona – gender and media culture (City of Zagreb), Pobjede – protection and promotion of animal rights (Osjek-Baranja County) and NGO Bonsai – development of volunteer practice (Dubrovnik-Neretva County). The main carrier of the project worth 324.953,00 kn was K-Zona, which is the organiser of the Vox Faminae festival in Zagreb every autumn since 2007.

The main aim of the project is the increase of the impact and appreciation of women's work in the local communities and civil sector. Therefore, through common campaign on the national level and 5 local campaigns the project was raising awareness of the general public on the topics that are central to the partner NGOs as well as lobbied for more efficient implementation and improvement of public policies.

First activity was the research among the NGOs in the areas of the counties involved, questioning why portion of male volunteers in much lower than female volunteers in Croatia (20% of men compared with 80%of women). Moreover, it checked and proved the assumption about marginalisation of the impact and visibility of work done by younger women and published the recommendation based on the findings.

Further steps involved the exchange of knowledge and skills in order to increase the capacities of the partner organisations, carrying out of the local as well as the national campaign, and production of a handbook providing advice to the youngsters when initiating socially beneficial initiatives.